Day 03 – Windsor Castle and Stone Henge

The largest inhabited castle in the world is Windsor Castle. It is a wonderful place to visit. An audio tour is available to guide you around and explain what you see. It takes several hours to walk around and enjoy everything there is to see.

A watch tower of Windsor Castle

We were fully aware that behind some of these windows there could be a queen or prince staring at us.

Windsor castle

The flag on top. A sure sign that the queen is at home?

Windsor castle with flag

The red cross on the wall is surrounded by a blue garter. A garter is a band worn around the leg to keep up a stocking. This garter is the symbol of the “Order of the Garter”, which is an order of knights. Their motto is “Honi soit qui mal y pense”, which is French for “shame upon him who thinks evil upon it”. This, and more interesting lore, can be learned during a visit to Windsor Castle and St. George’s Chapel.

Arms of the Order of the Garter

St. Georges’s Chapel is a beautiful building, both outside and inside.

Church at Windsor castle

This is not a joke but, according to a signboard, it is a real soldier who should not be distracted from his duties as a guard. We saw many tourists trying to distract him, but he kept a stiff upper lip.

Guard at Windsor castle

Colorful buildings near St. George’s Chapel.

Near Windsor castle

Colorful windows inside St. George’s Chapel.

Windows in the St George Chapel

Trees show that autumn is approaching.

Windsor castle

Our visit to Windsor Castle took several hours, but there was still plenty of time to visit Stonehenge. Stonehenge is a prehistoric, about 4300 years old, monument near Salisbury.

Stonehenge

The Stonehenge monument is mysterious and beautiful. An audio tour guides visitors around the monument explaining what is known about its history. There are many old stone circles in Great Britain, but Stonehenge is the most famous.

Stonehenge

It’s amazing to imagine how these stones that weigh several tons each have been moved around so many years ago.

Stonehenge

The stones are believed to be arranged in such a way that they can be used as a calendar. During the winter and summer solstice the stones are aligned with the rising and setting sun. The longest and shortest days of the year must have had special meaning to the people who erected these stones.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge circle is older than the great pyramids in Egypt.

Stonehenge under sky

We recommend everybody who plans to visit Great Britain to include a visit to Stonehenge. The monument is an English Heritage site. We bought an Overseas Visitor Pass, which gives “free” entry to over 100 English Heritage attractions.

Stonehenge in its landscape

This was a wonderful day with two very worthwhile visits to Windsor and Stonehenge. We continued to Salisbury where we quickly found a Bed & Breakfast to spend the night. We already caught a glimpse of Salisbury Cathedral which we want to visit tomorrow morning.